Customer Reviews

Lady Vanishes and Other Oddities of Nature (Five Star Speculatvie Fiction)

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The Lady Vanishes and Other Oddities of Nature is an anthology collection of 11 short stories by Charles Sheffield. None are that great, many seem to be just an idea the author has (or thinks he came up with) about a sci fi theme with the whole story being just that, here's my idea you'll love the story for that, I can't be bothered writing an actual plot to go along with it.

For example the title story The Lady Vanishes is another scientist turning invisible story. In this 20 page story, Sheffield uses the projector/cameras clothing method (see Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Arrived by Daniel Wilson for the best explanation of this method), for the actual turning invisible with his characters ridiculing H G Wells' novel and pointing out how the method used in that novel could never happen. Nothing else really happens in the book, basically her colleague is told she disappeared from a secure facility, has used a few ATMs without showing up on security footage and he has to find her, which he doesn't really need to do as he just drives to her apartment. In the afterword its pretty clear the author isn't too familiar with the invisible man genre, maybe just assuming H G Wells is the only author ever to write about it. Each story has an afterword where Sheffield pretty much strokes his own ego. In this one Sheffield claims this as an idea he got from animals in nature. Too bad the idea has been around for a lot longer than your story Charles. Plus the fact half the story is pretty much implying Wells came up with the invisible man idea ignores Fitz-James O'Brien's What Was It? and other stories written before Wells' novel.

As for the rest of the short stories a few get a bit better but most read like the first. They are set in space, government institutions and laboratories, the sporting fields and diplomatic postings. Incase you're interested the stories inside were all written between 1996 and 2000 and are -
The Lady Vanishes
The Peacock Throne
Brooks Too Broad for Leaping
The Art of Fugue
The Whole Three Yards
Cloud Cuckoo
Packing Fraction
Nurembery Joys
What Would You Like to Know?
Waiting for the Riddlers
Phallicide

I'd give the collection a miss though, there's better ways to spend your time.

A Science Fiction Story

Invisible ex-spook, now.


3.5 out of 5